Polish Christmas Parties

Here is our own little slice of "coldwar corner" as Leanne has aptly named the area in & around our "hotel/dorms". Here is a look out of the shared kitchen in window in the fall....
and in the winter. The snow is still falling, but the temp is holding steady around 10 degrees warmer than our IL home (!).

Above is a pic of Barclay & kids with our shepherd, Wlodzimierz, his wife, Dorothy, & their kiddos, Martin (aka "dude") & Matilda (also the name of Zora's polish baby doll:) They invited us over for a big family meal since we were traveling & missing the traditional family Christmas meal. It was super sweet of them. Wlodz has been great to us. We are thankful for him & his kindness.

Lots of Polish goodness. Although we couldn't be there for their actual Christmas meal, they prepared lots of traditional/seasonal dishes for us. There are traditionally 8-12 *meat-free (but with fish) courses.
Here's what is shown/what we were served...
There is a hot drink that is like a light broth, a pancake filled with beans/cheese/meat, a seven-layer salad (a lot like the one my great-aunt makes at Christmas! Only this one had ketchup, too...which they also put on pizza here...), a meat & cheese tray, a bread basket, another veggie mix dish, & I'm sure there are things I am forgetting here, but! It was all good & neat to try. And we had yummy cake & lots of tea. :)
Now on to another party...here we are at B's History dept party with the Wlodz-a-nator. Leanne babysat so that we could hang-out "like grown-ups." Thanks, Leanne! So, here we are, blue jean clad...and yes, we were the "casual Americans," but we didn't know this was a fancy, dress-up event. We should've guessed. I think pretty much all events here are fancy to us. Poles, for the most part, are "nails done, hair colored, dressed up" folk, from all I've noticed. I have seen exactly ONE lady in sweats in the mall since we've been here & I'm pretty sure it was bc she was around her 40th week in pregnancy. Anywho...we enjoyed the party like adults...
Cheers!
This retired secretary brought out some of her home-made (57 %, y'all) moonshine (pretty sure they don't call it that here, but that's what it was!) and they all got a kick out of the little American guy tasting the stuff. (They had broken out the vodka & wine as soon as we sat down...I did have a glass of wine, but that was my limit.) I did NOT partake of the mystery moonshine. B said it tasted like rubbing alcohol. Ew.

Part of the fancy History dept Christmas party...it was a far cry from the usual stand around, chill & snack & chat deal that we are used to in the U.S. :)
Again, there are about 12 courses. We ate lunch that day, not knowing that this 3 pm deal was a sit-down & feast thing, so we just tasted a couple of things & learned about the rest. This was a mushroom soup.
Above are two different dishes of fishes (no meat in these Christmas meals). One is fried, with Polish salads & potatoes, the bottom one isn't cooked & has onions.
Party number 3...
Leanne & B have lots of the same students, so we had them over for a pizza party before the break. We had a really fun time, even though this was part of the "Zora's hand-foot-mouth illness." We ate, talked & had a funny dance contest. Here is our group getting it kicked off. :) We did a little Zumba.

Here's a sweet Polish guy cross-dress-dancing to "Barbie girl." Yeah, give him a cookie.
"Swan Lake" by a bunch of big guys wearing table cloth skirts! Ha, ha. L. chose this one as the winner. :)
This cute couple actually could dance. They did a little salsa-swing combo. And made out. A lot. Oh to be young and European.
(This might be the only place I remember to throw in that although I am a p.d.a kind of gal--I love a good snuggle--being in Europe reminds me of the phrase "get a room!" all the time. I have seen people grabbing, groping, not only kissing, but LICKING & biting each other out in public! Seriously, sometimes it is too much. And on buses or subways or standing smooshed together in line at the mall, I can't avoid it. I remember the first time I saw this European kind of togetherness...on a park bench...in Paris...in 1998. My first thought, even then, was that those people could always tell their child where he or she was made. On the park bench, in broad daylight, as a group of American tourists waited for their bus.)

Well, that pretty much wraps up our Christmas parties here in Poland...I'll try to touch on our Holiday in Budpest asap! We had a great time visiting w friends that are also here on FulB* awards, ate lots of delish food & saw some great sights. Stay tuned...